DING! DING! DING! Give this poster a prize!
Realistically, given the Bell Curve, how many students can really ever be able to understand the concepts underlying the basic operations of arithmetic? What percentage, realistically, will ever be able to understand and pass Algebra I or II????
“Give as many people as possible an every day, working knowledge of math.” Yes! Yes! Yes! Both the slow students and the bright!
There is now a movement to push Algebra down into the middle school years. I predict that the slower students will now be far less prepared for basic living, and the brighter students will be less prepared for success in higher level math. Why? Because the time previously spent hammering down basic operations in math ( addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, FRACTIONS and DECIMALS) will be robbed for teaching pre-Algebra.
“Realistically, given the Bell Curve, how many students can really ever be able to understand the concepts underlying the basic operations of arithmetic? What percentage, realistically, will ever be able to understand and pass Algebra I or II????”
That is so true, but we have a bunch of Utopian dreamers who wormed their way into all our institutions since the sixties, and they can’t accept the fact that we are not all equal in all areas of endeavor, and math is an area that makes us even more unequal than many other areas of life. A lot of this crap is nothing but an unending and futile effort to prove that we are more equal than we actually are. And it’s an enormous waste of time for all concerned.
I hate to say never try to teach a pig to sing because it’s a waste of time and it annoys the pig, but... And, come to think of, not many humans sing all that well when we get right down to it. It’s a waste of time to try and teach many humans to sing, or to do much beyond basic math.